I began my tennis career at Graves Tennis & Leisure Centre from the age of 7 and have been an active county player for Yorkshire my whole tennis journey. In my junior years, I worked my way through district leagues, local competitions etc. before ending up as Yorkshire’s 18U county champion in both singles and doubles in 2006. I have been an active member of the men’s county week and winter county cup team for Yorkshire and have now begun playing in the over 35s for the county.
My coaching journey started at 15 in Sheffield. I helped out at some of the mini red and orange classes at Abbeydale Tennis Club. At the other end of the scale I was assisting my former coach, John Clifton and the Graves Tennis & Leisure Centre programme. Some key players I assisted with include Jennifer and Jessica Ren who were international champions at key events such as Auray 12U and Orange Bowl 12U.
At the age of 18, I was offered a scholarship to attend the University of Stirling to further my training and competitive opportunities. I ended up studying for 7 years and finished with an MSc in Sport Management. Whilst studying, I achieved a British ranking inside the top 25 singles players and ended up with an ATP doubles ranking. The team won multiple British University leagues and cups and enabled me to represent GB at university level in France in 2012.
Towards the end of my student-athlete career I began to help the Scottish National Programme, which is also based the the university. Helping the national programme enabled me to gain plenty of experience in a variety of disciplines. Singles, doubles, men’s, women’s, juniors and wheelchair. Some key players I have helped support during their tennis careers include: Gordon Reid, Colin Fleming, Jonny O’Mara and Maia Lumsden. Helping these players has allowed me to attend all the Grand Slams as an individual coach, be part of the British Paralympic coaching team in Rio 2016 as well as a few very forgettable places!!
I am super excited to be moving back “home” to help enhance Yorkshire’s county cup results across all ages with the goal of being the best performing county in Britain.